Jamie Chew's Web Log: Vol. 1 No. 87

2007-06-05 23:43 (Kristen) Jamie was up around 8:00, just before my alarm went off. He seemd a little warm, maybe, but otherwise fine. Liam woke up at 8:30. We traipsed off to Hakobune in the rain, and Jamie was a huge hit in his fire chief raincoat and matching boots. I took Liam for a walk through the Annex, and visited Gary at his place of employment after a coffee at a new coffee shop called Aroma. Liam conveniently fell asleep before the coffee, and didn't wake up for close to two hours. Gary's co-worker gave me a cookie to give to Jamie, and when I did, Jamie had a bit and very pleased. We walked back to the store to say thank you in person, stopping many times along the way because I kept falling into traps. We enjoyed the walk, despite the traps, and had fun talking about the flowers we saw. We had some lunch with Gary, played for a few minutes, and then headed to the subway, because Jamie wanted to ride to Kennedy Station and back.

We got off at Chester Station to go to the Second Cup, and Jamie put his little head on the table and said that he wasn't hungry. He hadn't eaten much all day, so I didn't think about it until I looked at him a minute or two later and realized that he was sleeping. John arrived with the stroller soon afterwards, and transferred Jamie to it with no fuss or bother. Liam, who was wide awake and giggling, was delighted at everything. We went to see Dr. Kennedy, en masse, and she pronounced us all as doing better. (John: this might have been the day when Jamie weighed in at 17.2 kg and 104.5 cm. I just found a scrap of paper with this written down on it, and it's August 1st today.) Jamie wanted to go to the pharmacy for some candy, and when we did, the pharmacist gave Jamie a Kit-Kat, which was a lovely thing for her to do. We headed home, hung out, had dinner, and got ready for bed. Jamie didn't eat much dinner, and was a tiny bit feverish again. He and Liam had a hard time falling asleep, and Liam still is waking up frequently with gas. Jamie finally fell asleep around 10:30 or so.

2007-06-06 22:47 (Kristen) I got the boys up this morning and to Hakobune, despite the best efforts of the planet Mercury (which is definitely in retrograde), only a little late this morning. I have to say, however, that the riders themselves were their usual decent selves, and helped us when we needed it. I took Liam for a long walk, but he didn't fall asleep until noon, likely because his tummy was bothering him somewhat. A dose of peaches took care of it later in the afternoon. I picked up Jamie, and he asked to go for a ride to Kennedy Station to see the buffers again. Unfortunately, he fell asleep at Main Station, and missed the buffers. I woke him up when I picked him up to get off the train at Broadview, and he was a Very Unhappy Camper. This reinforced my thought that he really needed to be home for some quiet time, but he disagreed vociferously all the way home. He remained a hyperkinetic, somewhat cranky boy for the rest of the day.

Around 5:30, I took him (and Liam) outside because he needed to run off some energy, and I didn't want to give in to a number of less than admirable impulses. Gary came along, and we walked to the Danforth (ran, or were carried, as the case may be) and back. We came home for some photography with John's new camera lens and dinner, courtesy of John's mom. John stayed home tonight from Scrabble because he still isn't back up to speed, which was nice. Jamie tried to add his own soy sauce to his dinner, and will receive careful supervision next time. Liam had his first shampoo tonight, and didn't like it but didn't hate it either. Both boys were in bed early, and it took an overtired Jamie a long time to settle down. Liam has been up and down again with tummy problems, and I think that I should give him some pears tomorrow morning.

2007-06-07 24:00 (Kristen) For the last two days, Jamie has fallen asleep in the afternoon after Hakobune. To avoid a repeat of yesterday, where I had to wake him up to move him off the subway, John suggested that we meet him at Broadview Station to get a sling on the way home. That way, I could sling Liam and put Jamie in the stroller if I had to to ease our egress from the underground. Because we were ready, Jamie didn't nap (but he really really should have). So much for being prepared.

The morning was a little stressful, as Jamie visibly slows down the greater the need is to hurry, and this works badly for me. We made it out, however, and he was happy to run off and play with his friends. He usually plays with one or two other boys, and they're not always the same boys. He seems to have a lot of friends, although he will sometimes choose to play alone for the morning. Liam and I walked through Kensington Market, and Liam finally fell asleep around noon (again). He slept for two hours, which was fine, but they were relatively active hours for me. Jamie ran to meet me with a huge hug and kiss when I arrived, which was utterly delightful. We talked about it later, and he had to repeat the exercise over and over again to get the same happy reaction out of me (although it was not as spontaneous after the third time, it was still genuine). We walked to get a bubble tea, and then went off on our subway ride. We stopped off at Pape to go to the toy store (Jamie's demand, and he was starting to show real signs of fatigue), but went to the library first.

It was 4:30 by the time we left, and John met us at the Second Cup with the other stroller, which I was very grateful for. After a short rest and snack, we headed home. I made dinner while John played with Liam outside and did some gardening. Jamie had a meltdown at one point, triggered by fatigue and his unhappiness at the continuing illnesses of his parents. He seems to have felt better after a good cry. Hee didn't eat much of his dinner, which didn't surprise me, and then made me play some video games with him briefly (I say briefly because Liam was with us and the thrill of being in the basement paled quickly for him). Then it was off to bed. Liam fell asleep quickly, but Jamie still had deep reserves of energy from somewhere. He told me a long story about a boy and a little cat, and that the cat loved the boy very much but the boy didn't love the cat. It was a very sad story, but he later told me that the boy loved the cat in the end, and that the cat was very happy. Surprisingly poignant. Eventually, Jamie the Cat (he was a purple cat and I was a pink one) fell asleep at 10:20, despite (or because of) his utter fatigue.

I forgot to mention that John had made a bid on a lot of Anpanman stuff on eBay and won a week or two ago. The Anpanman train, Anpanman books, and a bonus two Japanese-language Thomas the Tank Engine books arrived today. Jamie was very happy with the books, but pronounced the train to be "perfect." When you get him the right gift, he really lets you know. He has also been telling me that I am beautiful and shiny. I like being shiny.

2007-06-08 23:18 (Kristen) I got the boys up this morning, and took Jamie to Hakobune and Liam to his last Roots of Empathy gathering. Liam had a very rough night last night, and at one point was wide awake and possibly giggling while I told him it was still nighttime, go to sleep already. He must have gotten the hint, but kept waking up until the morning light, when he finally stayed asleep for a bit while I got Jamie ready to go.

Liam's last Roots class went very well, and we were sad that it was the last time we'd be seeing that group of kids. They really got along well with Liam, and Liam certainly enjoyed being with them. There was cake, and the kids presented us with a photo album of pictures that were taken with us over the course of the year, and a poster with wishes for Liam's future that they'd made. Liam let some of the kids hold him, and was surprisingly happy and social, given his night and the amount of drool that was starting to roll down his chin. That's right: we're teething again. He had great difficulty sleeping as a result, complicated by the high temperatures out today. He screamed himself to sleep for half an hour at 1:00, but that was it for sleep today. I couldn't even get him to fall asleep nursing at Browning. He was shiny, and happy, and full of energy, but when he melted down at 9:30, it was total. He's only woken up once since.

Jamie was awfully tired, but enjoyed getting a bubble tea with me after Hakobune, and going to Treasure Island. John met us at the toy store, and we had a short Second Cup visit before going to Browning for dinner tonight. There was much video game playing, but Jamie was so tire dthat it was hard for him to concentrate even on that. He was good about going to bed, and fell asleep quite quickly.

I should add that Liam has been Child of Perpetual Motion again, and managed not only to stand by himself a few times for a few moments, but Tom reports that he actually took two steps by himself before falling over. I may have failed to report that he has four bottom teeth now (for about two weeks; the last bottom tooth came in very soon after the last top) and two top teeth. I can't figure out where the new one is going to come in yet.

2007-06-09 22:49 (Kristen) Jamie woke me up at 9:15 to have some company in the bathroom, and to find out where we were going today. I think that we must have a very busy, active life outside of the house, because Jamie expects that we have somewhere to go every day. Unusually, we were not going to the market on a Saturday, because John still needs to rest and recover from his neuralgia. This bothered Jamie somewhat, but it turned out that what he really wanted was to go to Daniel and Ross's house to play video games. I ceased to be bothered about the issue myself after that.

We hung about the house until 2:00, when I thought that Liam (who had packed back the lunch) might want to nap. Ayami was around, and walked with us to the Danforth. I caught a brain cell, and thought that we should get out Jamie's firetruck-themed scooter. After finding Jamie's helmet, his fireman coat from Halloween, and explaining to Jamie that his fireman's helmet wasn't the right sort of helmet for a scooter, we set out. Jamie had a good time but was tired to scooting by the time we reached the end of the block. I ended up carrying it on the stroller for the rest of the trip, but that was all right.

We did some grocery shopping at the Big Carrot, and headed back home after chasing some pigeons. Sam, Kyup, Iain, and Luke were playing outside, and so we hung out with them for a while. I went into make dinner, and the kids stayed out with John. Jamie helped to keep Liam happy while John took in the laundry by playing peek-a-boo with him for a while. Jamie is getting to be more and more helpful with Liam, which makes us very happy. After dinner, we walked to Book City to pick up a cookbook for me, and Jamie talked John into getting some carrot cake. We stopped to play with Maya, Rayna, Chaerim, and Junko on the way (and Rusty the dog), and went to bed quite late. Both boys had inhaled large amounts of dinner, but Jamie still required a snack of honey toast and an apple before heading off to the bath. John says that Jamie was so tired that he didn't want to play in the bath tonight, and he certainly fell asleep the moment my arm curled around him after lights out.

Jamie is on a growth spurt again; his ankles are starting to poke out from under his pants, and his legs are long and skinny. He is maturing again, and it's a marvel to feel parts of me relax as I realize that I can expect him to do more on his own, and that he will do so cheerfully. He still wants me to feed him at the dinner table, but that's boredom and he's pretty much out of luck there. Liam can now stand on his own for longer and longer periods, and he's pleased as hell with himself. Given how much he's working on it, I would not be suprised if he's walking in the next month. Heck, in the next week. I'm exhausted from keeping him from braining himself every thirty seconds. Tonight he nearly pulled a chair onto himself, but Jamie beat me to saving him from certain doom. Jamie pronounced it "scary," but Liam just went on his merry, oblivious, death-defying way. Liam is laughing a great deal; he certainly seems pleased with life.

2007-06-10 23:06 (Kristen) Jamie woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, and stayed there on and off for the rest of the day. He was sunny enough, and pestering me about what we were going to do today, and was happy with my answer that we were going to meet Baby Simon and his mom, Leslie, for lunch and then play at Withrow Park. Once we left the house to walk to the Danforth, however, he had an utter meltdown by the end of the street because he was too bored to walk. He cheered up after we ran into Chaerim, Maya, and Rusty the Dog, and we made it to the restaurant without incident. Simon and his mom arrived at almost the same time, and we got a long booth near the back of Wimpy's.

Jamie ate a reasonable brunch, but was unusually rangy and verged a number of times on ill behaved. Liam, just to keep me hopping, showed me that he can reach a little farther than I think that he can, by grabbing my (fortunately tepid) cup of coffee and dumping it. The staff thought it was hot, and brought him ice immediately before they were told that he was crying because of the commotion, and not because he was scalded. Big points to them. Liam hoovered cereal and blueberries, and Jamie liked his banana milkshake. It was clearly time to go, however, and we took the kids to Withrow Park. On the way, we ran into Burhan and Selma, and had a pleasant ten minutes catching up on life and such before we had to go our separate ways. Jamie just wanted to dig in the sand, but was unusually shy. Eventually it was Simon's naptime, and we headed to the Second Cup to meet John. When it was time to go, Jamie didn't want to leave, and had Meltdown #2. We made it home, did some gardening, rode Jamie's runbike, and watered the lawn. We came out again when it was clear that the neighbourhood kids were playing on the lawns, and we stayed out until it was time to make dinner. Liam was particularly excited to be walking around on the lawn, and made big friends with everyone as he energetically practiced standing. He was remarkably stable, and easily stood for thirty seconds a few times.

Scheduling meant that we had to made dinner at Browning tonight on short notice, and Gary and Ayami came over too, despite the brevity of notification. Jamie played video games with Gary and anyone else he could rope in, and Liam happily owned Ayami and Tom. Tom and I had a fun conversation about how Liam is Danger Boy, and that his desire to move and explore far outstrips any sense of self preservation that he might have. This explains why I'm so very tired lately: when awake, he does not stop moving. Hence, his mad walking and standing skillz*. John went home early, and we all followed some time afterwards. Jamie was very tired and demanded an apple in bed. He fell asleep while eating, which he hasn't done for a very long time.

2007-06-11 23:45 (Kristen) Jamie has been on a growth spurt and his legs are a little longer than he realizes. He's had a few good spills lately when he's been running, and today's was a doozie. This afternoon, he fell his full length (and a little bit) running to catch up with me around the house, and scraped both of his knees and his right one paricularly. He wouldn't stop crying, particularly after he saw the blood, and John and I were getting worried after ten to fifteen minutes of this. John got up to do something, and Jamie fell asleep on the couch before he got back. He stayed asleep for about an hour, and while his knees still hurt, we were better able to establish that they'll be bruised and scraped up, but are otherwise fine. Poor guy. Of course he didn't fall asleep until 11:10 tonight, because we didn't run him around after the unplanned nap, but them's the breaks.

Liam continues to be Danger Boy. He is in constant motion, and I'm tired. He had started to wriggle now if he doesn't want to be held and wishes to walk instead, and it is making it difficult now to do much unless I can keep his butterfly mind occupied while I get whatever it is accomplished quickly. Otherwise he's swimming down the hall to his doom, or pulling himself up on something and cruising to his doom, or otherwise attempting to cause doom to doom upon him. He spent a good part of the evening pulling things off shelves, and otherwise being an Agent of Destruction, but he was a very happy agent. I just hope he's connecting neurons at a fierce rate, because I'm not going through this for nothing, folks. Just sayin'.

Events of note for today include a dentist appointment for the family, and Jamie was very brave and let the hygenist scrape some tartar off of his teeth. Given that he only let them count his teeth last time, he's getting much better. He remembered that Dr. Da Costa gives out sugar free lollipops (he doesn't care about the sugar free part, but I do), and made sure that he could get one before we even arrived. Jamie's teeth were pronounced perfect, which made me happy because I'm the one who makes sure that they're brushed. I gave Jamie the first ripe strawberry out of the garden today, but failed to take a photograph of the event, which proves that I am not Japanese (in case anyone was wondering if I was), unlike his father. Leslie and Simon came by to visit, and all three children played together surprisingly well. Simon liked the new toys, and there was much tickling. It was fun to have a spontaneous visit. Both boys are sleeping now, and I'm wondering about the same activity for myself.

* For the benefit of Scrabble players, words that are not in the Scrabble dictionary are marked with an asterisk.

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